Classic Poem

Beloved, will you forgive me if to-day
I do not love you? Deep beneath my thought
I know you still are dear, but far away
Moves the strange earth and air where I am caught;

Where I am held by dark-empowered hands
That have detached my life away from you,
Away from myself, unloosening its bands,
So that I float and drift. All that I knew,

All that I dreamed or wanted has turned dull,
Turned dim, and I am far apart from it;
Vagueness lies over me and seems to lull
And lull my mind and make indefinite.

Old things and purposes. Even your face,
Your voice—they do not reach to me. . . .
I am not happy, or unhappy. Empty space
Is where I walk; separate, over a wide sea.